Opinions on restoring hands on original Seamaster

Tigeranteater

I only have two original Omegas. I included this fairly grungy pic of my Seamaster for reference. I would like your opinion of possibly having a watchmaker “dust off” some small rust looking spots that have appeared on the hands of my Seamaster over the years. I would like to keep the watch all original and don’t think replacing the hands is an option. I’m just sort of wondering if cleaning the hands so rust particles don’t fall on the dial is a good idea. You have to look through a loupe to see some spots but they are there. Or should I just leave it the way it is?

ConElPueblo

What reference Seamaster is this?

FWIW, the hands are most likely plated base metal, not steel. That means that when the plating goes (due to moisture, etc) the metal underneath will rust. You could probably get your watchmaker to remove the hands and gently remove the rust (at least some of it), but the hands could be pretty fragile if the rust is severe.

JwRosenthal

Very pretty watch. The hands on my Rolex OPD were similar when I got it. The hour and minute hands cleaned up beautifully with no loss of lume. The second hand looked like yours and that I had to source a NOS one- but it made all the difference.
Before:

After

ConElPueblo

@Tigeranteater - what reference is your Seamaster?

jtomaselli

I was thinking about doing the exact same thing with my (possibly identical) Seamaster hands. If you decide to refurbish I'm definitely interested in what you did/who you went to

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Tigeranteater

I think our hands are the same. I will let you know what I find out.

impalla62ss

I had hands re-plated but they were in a lot worse shape than yours to start with. In retrospect, I would have had a couple more coats done. Not the greatest, but they look a lot better. Replateit may be able to re-plate with Rhodium depending on the hands. Not sure if it is the best option for you, but thought I'd share.